


Better Late Than Never

by coolangelsthesis



Category: DRAMAtical Murder
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Shopping, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 19:20:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9137794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolangelsthesis/pseuds/coolangelsthesis
Summary: They were a bit late this year.But that wasn't going to stop them.





	

**Author's Note:**

> the noiao tag is dead so here i am, giving it some new life
> 
> MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A NEW YEAR 2K17 aw yeah hopefully i'll write more this year, hah depression u sly dog

They were a little bit late this year. **  
**

Not that anyone would blame them— time sort of has a way of slipping by, then suddenly it’s just a couple days until Christmas, and Noiz and Aoba still weren’t prepared. Their living room was barren, no tree to place the presents Aoba had lovingly wrapped. And somehow they had both forgotten about the upcoming holiday, even if Aoba had already started buying gifts in October. Somehow.

So sure, they were a little bit late about planning Christmas this year, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they were both off work, free to enjoy their time together… and quickly decorate their apartment so it had the right holiday spirit.

Noiz really couldn’t have cared less, but Aoba’s adamancy was tough to beat. He was deadset on building traditions together, giving back for all the time Noiz had lost in isolation.

But really, Noiz could not stand how crazy busy stores were on the last few days before Christmas, jam packed with people who’d accidentally procrastinated-- just like them.

“The lights, the lights…” Aoba mumbled to himself while scanning row after row of different types of lights, from flickering to old-timey bulbs to icicles. He turned to his boyfriend, who was begrudgingly hauling around their cart of overflowing holiday cheer. “Which do you think would look better, the snowflakes or the regular ones?”

“Either is fine,” Noiz replied with a bored sigh. Judging by the look on Aoba’s face, he could tell he was not happy with that answer. “The regular ones.”

Aoba grabbed two boxes— then a third, “just in case, we will need them next year and they’re on sale,” he reasoned— then focused on ornaments, then absolutely necessary tchotchkes. Which they already had, but Aoba insisted they needed more-- just in case. In case the future called for a brighter and more spectacular Christmas. Noiz followed along willingly, occasionally tossing a couple things in their cart that caught his eye, or things he knew Aoba would like. He pretended to act annoyed at being dragged to store after store with snowy, icy roads in Aoba’s attempts to make their Christmas perfect, but he didn’t mind it. Quite the contrary, actually. Seeing Aoba flustered and so put out was kind of cute in its own way.

But maybe he could try to lighten the load.

Noiz ran a hand down Aoba’s back comfortingly; his boyfriend’s back arched into the movement, despite the confused look he gave Noiz. After looking around for other people, Noiz moved in and kissed Aoba’s cheek.

“Hey. Do you need me to get anything?” he asked, entwining their hands together.

Aoba sighed softly with relief and squeezed his hand back. There it was again— that slight smile on his face, the one that Noiz was completely smitten for. “Hm… Well, I think we have mostly everything we need. I think we have some stuff from last year boxed up in my old room, so…” He turned to look Noiz in the eye, smile growing. “I guess we should go look for a tree, huh?”

Noiz couldn’t help but smile back. “Yeah.”

* * *

 

After the hellish nightmare that was dealing with a real pine tree last year (Aoba hadn’t known he had an allergy to pine until his three-week cold drove him mad enough to brave a trip to a German hospital), it had been a unanimous decision to opt for a fake tree this year. The easy assembly kind, with lights already covering its branches with more precision than either of them could manage.

First order of business was setting up the tree. It was easier than either of them expected, just a couple of hinges to unhook and bam, they had a beautiful tree, already halfway to perfectly decorated. Next had been unloading the boxes of old Christmas stuff tucked away in the back of the closet of Aoba’s old room-- which Aoba insisted Noiz do, much to his displeasure.

By the time they got around to actually decorating, their living room had divulged into absolute unorganized chaos. Bags upon bags from their most recent shopping trip littered the floor, glittered like starlight when the lights from the trees hit them in the right way. The contents from last year’s Christmas and the Christmas before that unearthed from dusty boxes— old knick-knacks and ornaments and stuff Aoba had forgot they had and bought duplicates of.

Noiz and Aoba were staring at a warzone, unsure where to start first.

“I think I overestimated what we needed,” Aoba said, picking up a snow globe with a depiction of Munich, all snowed over and quiet.

“You don’t say,” Noiz replied, half-joking. He found an old collection of bows meant for gifts and stuck one on Aoba’s head. The red was cute, and matched the color on his cheeks. “Where are we even going to store all this?”

“I… don’t know. But we’ll figure that out later. I always thought Christmas looked like so much fun! Japan doesn’t really celebrate it like you do here. So many lights, and so many decorations… I guess I’ve always wanted to see what it was like. And I know you never really got to enjoy Christmas when you were younger, so…” Aoba lowered his gaze, sighing. “Sorry if I… got a little carried away.”

Noiz smiled fondly, cupped a hand to Aoba’s cheek and kissed him. “I don’t mind. Really. I think it’s cute. You’re cute.”

Aoba began to smile, and his face went even redder. He bent down suddenly, struck by some divine inspiration to finally begin tackling decorating their apartment.

With a laugh, Noiz followed suit. He picked up a random box and scrutinized its contents— a tiny plush rabbit ornament, made for kids, with a little present in its hands and an even tinier Santa hat in between its long ears.

_Cute_ …

“Do you like it?” Aoba’s voice suddenly chimed, close to Noiz’s ear— admittedly catching Noiz off guard. “Haha, sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you. I totally thought of you when I saw it and had to get it.”

Aoba grabbed the box out of Noiz’s hands and began unboxing it; Noiz noted the obvious shade of pink starting to grow over Aoba’s cheeks, onto his ears. “I was thinking somewhere right on top… s-so every time I see it, I think of you. H-How embarrassing, right…”

Shoulders hunched, Aoba turned around and hung the rabbit near the top of the tree, right below the glowing star on top and right next to the commemorative ornament Noiz had surprised him with last year—  a simple matching set of hearts, blue and green, on a snowy white background.

Aoba moved slightly, just barely catching Noiz’s gaze out of the corner of his eye. Smiling shyly, he turned back around to face his boyfriend.

He was radiant in the glow of the lights. His eyes shone like crystal, all warm golden red and green from the tree next to him. Noiz usually found himself lost in those eyes but, wow, no poetry no matter how vivid could perfectly describe Aoba’s beauty. Honestly, what had he done to deserve someone so gorgeous?

“You’re staring again, you know,” Aoba warned in a tone that said he’d been through this at least a thousand times by this point. Grinning, he poked the tip of Noiz’s nose. “Instead of ogling me, why don’t you help me sort out this mess?”

“Fiiine.” As Aoba started hanging up more ornaments, Noiz started organizing the piles of bags. Noticing something strange, he reached down into one of the bags and pulled out a small, delicate thing, a small plant wrapped around with ribbon and packaging to prevent it from breaking.

Ah right. Mistletoe. He had picked this out himself for the express purpose of coaxing more kisses out of Aoba than he already got.

Smirking to himself, Noiz undid the packaging and stepped behind Aoba, mindlessly humming and placing tinsel around the arms of their tree.

“Hey,” Noiz said, catching Aoba’s attention immediately. His boyfriend glanced over his shoulder eagerly. “Where should I put this?”

Noiz stretched out his arm, hanging the mistletoe directly above them. Aoba’s eyes went wide for a split-second, but he quickly composed himself and returned a smirk.

“Hmm… maybe above the sink? So maybe you’ll finally start doing the dishes. Or the washing machine! No, no, the garbage, because you always forget to take it out before going to work. Or maybe—”

“Okay,” Noiz cut in, trying not to let Aoba’s teasing get to him. “That’s… not what I was thinking… hm… what about here?”

He brought the mistletoe down towards his lower stomach, flashing Aoba with a cocky grin. Aoba gasped and his face went cherry red.

“You perv! A-Absolutely not. Here, give me that.”

Aoba took hold of Noiz’s wrist and moved it back to where it was earlier, hanging above their heads. He moved in and kissed Noiz right on the lips. The peck quickly melted into something softer, fonder, where Noiz could _feel_ Aoba smiling against his lips.

After a moment or three, Aoba pulled away and laughed. “I don’t even know why you’d need that. I’d kiss you whenever, wherever.”

“Wherever?” Noiz repeated, tilt of his voice flirty.

“Ugh… Y-You know what I mean.”


End file.
